1. Field of the Described Embodiments
The described embodiments relate generally to gaming systems and methods, such as, but not limited to, gaming systems and methods deployed in a casino enterprise.
2. Description of Related Art
Many of today's gaming casinos and other entertainment locations feature different multi-user gaming systems such as slot machines and video poker machines. These gaming machines typically include pay-for-play (e.g., entertainment arcades, amusement arcades, and so on) or pay-for-wager (e.g., casino, video lottery, fixed odds betting, and so on).
Gaming devices may be typically processor-controlled. Microprocessor based gaming devices may include a number of hardware and software components to provide a wide variety of game types and game playing capabilities. A typical electronic gaming device comprises a central processing unit or master gaming controller, generally referred to as CPU below. A CPU controls various combinations of hardware and software devices and components that encourage game play, allow a user to play a game on a gaming device, and control payouts and other awards.
Software components may include, for example, boot and initialization routines, various game play programs and subroutines, credit and payout routines, image and audio generation programs, various component modules and a random number generator, among others. Exemplary hardware devices may include bill validators, coin acceptors, card readers, keypads, buttons, levers, touch screens, coin hoppers, ticket printers, user tracking units and the like.
Many gaming devices may be provided with special features and additional circuitry that differentiate them from general-purpose computers, such as a laptop or desktop personal computer (“PC”). Because gaming devices may be highly regulated to ensure fairness, and in many cases may be operable to dispense monetary awards of a large amount of money, their hardware and software architectures often differ significantly from those of general-purpose computers, even though both PCs and gaming devices employ processors to control a variety of devices.
Although variety of devices available for a PC may be greater than on a gaming device, gaming devices still have unique device requirements that differ from PCs. Adapting PC technologies to gaming devices is quite difficult for a number of reasons, such as regulations and security requirements that may be placed upon gaming devices, a harsh environment in which gaming devices operate, and fault tolerance requirements. Further, techniques and methods for solving a problem in the PC industry, such as device compatibility and connectivity issues, might not be adequate in the gaming environment.
Software on gaming devices used to generate games of chance has been statically designed to prevent cheating by an operator of a gaming device. For example, coding instructions on non-volatile memory must be approved by gaming regulators and installed in the presence of a gaming official from the gaming jurisdiction. Any changes may have to be approved by the gaming jurisdiction. There may also be code validation requirements in the gaming industry that affect both hardware and software designs on gaming devices. In addition, monetary devices such as coin dispensers, bill validators, ticket printers and computing devices that may be used to govern input and output of cash to a gaming device have security requirements that may not be typically addressed in PCs.
For example, a fault or a weakness tolerated in a PC, such as security holes in software or frequent crashes, may not be tolerated in a gaming machine because in a gaming machine these faults may lead to a direct loss of funds from a gaming machine, such as stolen cash or loss of revenue when a gaming machine is not operating properly. To address some of these issues, a number of hardware/software components and architectures may be utilized in gaming machines that may not be typically found in general purpose computing devices, such as PCs. These hardware/software components and architectures include, but may not be limited to, items such as watchdog timers, voltage monitoring systems, state-based software architectures and supporting hardware, specialized communication interfaces, security monitoring, and trusted memory.
Components and architectures of a gaming device may be important for an electronic gaming device to properly function. However, if an electronic gaming device is not operating properly, an error must be efficiently determined and corrected. The more quickly an error condition may be diagnosed and remedied, the more quickly a gaming machine may be put back into service to serve customers.